kosh62 wrote:
King Conan! Yes! I've never read any of this. I'm very curious to see how Conan was written as a ruler. I hope for more political intrigue than lone swashbuckling. I'll definitely sample this first volume at least.

I'd hate to dash your hope Kosh but don't get your hopes up too high. There is more palace intrigue than your average swashbuckling Conan tale but not with the same level of (relative) sophistication of Kull.
This first volume and next are, however, fine reads by the classic team of Roy Thomas, John Buscema & Ernie Chan (among others). Nevertheless, the gents were largely on automatic by this time so don't expect anything with the same level of inspiration or passion of early Savage Sword of Conan.
Once this team leaves with #10, things really go down hill for 10 issues, which means two tpbs of sub-standard material. Volume 5, however, is the one to watch out for when The Prince is Dead storyline kicks off. So it's a mixed blessing.



Go here for more Kaluta King Conan Kovers.

One thing really annoys me. Marvel produced a long adaptation of Hour of Dragon, which was run in Giant-Size Conan 1-4, SSoC #8 & #10. It precedes the King Conan tales in these tradepaperbacks and it should've been collected in the first volume to set up the whole series. I'm not completely sure but I also think there were some King Conan tales in some of the annuals, which also preceed King Conan #1.
I hate lambasting Dark Horse at every opportunity but they have a unique property with Conan and it would be nice if they had an editor overseeing the various projects who actually knew the material. I know it's easier to just sling that stuff into the SSoC telephone books but what could it hurt to put a little more thought into the collections?